needs some guidance on grading

[chadfromlawson-migration]

Between grades 66-68 its hard to understand the imperfection that warrant the grade. Can anyone give me layman's terms on what exactly can be wrong with a coin to be 66, 67, and 68 thanks for any input.

[MarkFeld]

Sorry, there is no general answer that you can apply. The reasons for the differences between those or other grades can be due to any one of a number of factors. Among them are: luster, strike, color, marks, eye-appeal, mint-made or man-made flaws, etc. And quite often the differences are simply due to the subjectivity involved in the grading of coins.

[bsshog40]

There's a lot of coins that 66,67,& 68 are most graciously accepted. Are there any certain type coins that you might be referring to. When yo get above MS67, then it will be minor imperfections that effect getting grade any higher. When you think about a perfect coin as being 70, then all it takes is one small mark to take it down a grade. It's probably easier to determine the imperfections when you work from MS70 down. When I "TRY" to grade my coins, if it is circulated/uncirculated, I will work my way up from a starting grade such as EF to MS63. If it is a modern, then I usually work my way down from 70-63. Usually it don't take me long at all to get below the 70 grade.

 

Edited to add: I use 2 books also that are very helpful for grading. ANA Grading Standards & Photograde. These are very good books with pictures for guidance. Highly suggested!!

[chadfromlawson-migration]

Thanks for some input. I guess my main thing is bag marks. A few look good but have one or two bag marks. Say if a coin has a minor bag mark on the not so high areas what would it be lowered to? same with two marks. Just trying to get a feel for grading.

[bsshog40]

I don't have my books with me but MS67, If I'm not mistaken would be a very clean coin with very minor imperfections. I would think that if the bag marks were very small and maybe only noticeabal under magnification, that might warrant MS67. There are a lot of others on here that are better than I am about this. I'm sure they'll chime in soon.

[MarkFeld]

If the marks are fairly insignificant, they might not even result in a lower grade. On the other hand, if they are large and/or distracting, they might account for a one or two point difference, lower. It might be helpful if you could provide a couple of examples with images.

[chadfromlawson-migration]

Ok yeah I will scan up later and maybe help me thanks everyone